The uproar over ebook prices

Much has been said about ebook pricing, particularly in recent times as Amazon is forced to move to agency pricing.  And haven't their customers revolted!  Not surprisingly - we've all been getting books at ridiculous prices.  Why would we buy hardcovers or paperbacks when they are several times the price of the ebook.  Fine, if you are like me and you want the printed work as the PREMIUM product, something to share, something to keep, something to treasure - and not a digital file!  But the US 9.99 price point did create demand.  Amazing demand.  Even at 11.99, 12.99, 14.99 the price points are still good.  Where is the balance? 

I must say ebook pricing is getting ridiculous.  The US Sony Store has Tony Blair's My Journey still available for US 9.99.  What is absolutely ridiculous however is local pricing.  Local site Readwithoutpaper.com has the book for $35.58 - that's what the local distributor has set the price at.  AU $35.58.  On the Random House Australia website the Hardback is $59.95.  The ebook is also $59.95.  Sorry guys, you know I love you but where do you think I ordered the book from?  (Yes I know, I usually order from work at staff rates but when it comes to ebooks it's a different kettle of fish).

To make matters even more confusing, ebook vendors aren't familiar with how bibliographic data works.  For all of us in the booktrade, we've had to sigh, heave, yell, scream, moan and groan over what the metadata looks like.  We've worked through 100s editions and versions of the Harry Potters and Dan Browns of this world.  It is confusing.  It's awful.  And now you're yet another victim of it.  On today's Sony newsletter I saw a book entitled Cleopatra.  For those of you that know me, I have several grand loves.  Tudor History, War of the Roses, lives of famous poets and painters, and Ancient History - particularly Egyptian.  The first thing I do is link on the title and what happens when I get into the Sony Reader Store - two different prices for the same bloody ebook. It's an EBOOK people - it's not a hardcover or a paperback.  There should be one price UNLESS the book specifically mentions an enhanced edition.  And on old Sony readers, an enhanced edition doesn't do anything.  It's an electronic reader only. 

This is just going to get worse folks.  It's bad enough having "e" and "p" prices all over the place, locally and internationally.  More mature ebook markets like the US doing crazy things, the UK market having a play, and then us not wanting to cannibilise print in any way.  it's going to happen.  The consumer will decide how they want to read.  We've seen it in the library market for years.  Library budgets for print massively cut back so they can purchase more ebooks, online databases and journals.  We've HAD to work with ebook vendors to survive.  And it does come with a cost.  Economically you operate with different margins - or not at all.

When will publishers start looking at price points, look at the readers, look at the business models, and find something that helps SELL the work - regardless of format.  Give the reader what they want - at a price suitable for the product offered.  Or lose the sale.

In industry alerts today there was an upcry when Amazon started listing the publishers ebook prices in the UK.  "Increase in piracy" "people will go elsewhere" "ban the agency publishers".  The peasants are revolting folks.  But publishers, you've only got yourselves to blame.  You got out the content to the market, played with the big boys, let them build up the demand (and where demand had never gone before!) at a price point soo unbelievable it became mainstream, then said sorry and clawed it all back. 

Personally I think the price points are way too high locally - but that goes for the printed product too.  I've been in this industry a long time and I've seen the picture from all sides.  But price it better and sell more.  Be prepared to play, be prepared to give up margin, but don't lose the sale.  Don't become irrelevant.  Adapt or die.

Oh, and try not to piss off the customer.  In the digital world, they have more power than you know.

The ebook experience: one woman’s perspective

How should one interpret ebook sales figures? We're always hearing about growth, growth and growth. Devices are here, there and everywhere. No device? No problem! Here's the software for you, freely available. Go forth and prosper. Yes, we’ve known for years that anyone who has Adobe Reader can read an "ebook". There's also Adobe Digital Editions and in a galaxy not too far away there's Blio. Within ebook library portals you've got the reader that works best for that ebook vendor. Yada Yada. Basically there’s an ebook vendor, reader, system in every corner.

But let us take all of the technology out of the equation. And the library model too. You want to read an ebook. Good for you! You've worked out where you are going to source your titles from, how you're going to read them (yes, I’m speaking about devices not eyes for those of you being smarty pants), but did you ever think about how your buying behaviour was being analysed? Hmmm, ebook sales are growing but are we really surprised?

This blog documents my ebook experience from day one. Not the library portal, industry work I do everyday in my job, but personal reading experiences. Ah yes, I fondly remember loading Adobe Digital Editions and working out ways to download the Sony platform (tricky when it is programmed not to recognise Australia). But we worked it out. The Sony e-reader was sent from the US, other e-readers came my way to assess them for both professional and personal use. It seems like a lifetime ago but it’s only 15 months ago.

This whole blog was about me trying to understand the consumer experience of ebooks. Of course it developed over the time to ebooks in general and my professional experience, but let’s take ourselves back to the beginning of the blog when bestseller lists for ebooks spoke only of Stephenie Meyer. All I knew about her was bestseller, teenage fiction. Should be an easy read, I thought. So Twilight it was. Ah, my first ebook purchase. I remember it fondly. I read on a computer within a few days. It was cheap. It was easy. Click. Download. Read. Next book. Same thing. E-reader arrived. Two more books, click, click, tick, tick. Now, all opinions on my reading tastes aside, I was amazed at how easy it was to read the ebooks. I read both on the laptop and on a device.

I read several ebooks in quick succession. I was eager. I wanted more. I was like a newborn vampire. I needed to feed! So I found myself downloading from every possible site. I used publisher sites, library sites, Gutenberg, Sony. If I saw the words free e-book, I signed up. If I saw e-book bundles or $1.00 books, click click, purchase. I couldn’t help myself.

GOODNESS when I think of what I've done, I just shake my head. Did I ever think about how those purchases would track in figures? No, I just wanted lots of books on my device to read whenever I wanted! So I got to the point of having dozens of physical books in the "to read" pile and dozens more of e-books on the list. Over time I’ve deleted books from the platforms and the Sony e-reader itself but thought I’d take a close look at what’s currently in my Sony portal. Ah yes, my purchases. What have I acquired, predominantly at the US$9.99 or slightly higher price? More importantly what have I actually read?

It didn’t take long to tally up the figures. I read 50% of what I purchased.  Was I surprised? No, not really. I now realise the books I’m buying in ebook format are those I don’t wish to keep. They are to read and discard. The books I love I still purchase in print. I can read them in anywhere I go. There aren’t restrictions like the weather, water, aircraft nuances. I can share them with friends. Granted they are much heavier, but the authors or genres I know I’ll love, I read in print. The ones I'm a little more uncertain about, I purchase in “e”.  The other interesting point, books I love in print, I also acquired in “e”, usually free.  The classics like Wuthering Heights or Pride and Prejudice.  That way I can take them with me everywhere.

But what have I actually read? Unfortunately only half of it.  It was too easy to acquire but unfortunately not to read.  Will I continue to purchase ebooks?  Darn right I will!  I'm just going to be more careful with the "buy now" button and watch those free ebook offers more closely... 

The ebook reading experience, Apple, Kindle et al

I must say I'm enjoying reading all the reviews of the iPad since its U.S. debut on April 3rd. One of the reviews I liked the most was from the LA Times where they spoke about differences between the Kindle (being the market leader) and the Apple ipad (the choice of the next generation) in terms of the book reading experience.

While it might not be on the top of the lists for some people, personally I was really glad to hear about the traditional page designation, that you could view two pages across the screen (if it was your preference), and that Apple has a grasp on what it's like to turn a page. The process of selecting a book, reading it and turning to the next page is part of the established reading experience. At least those of us of a certain age! As those of you who have followed this blog since the early days - particularly my friends and industry colleagues on Facebook (where I have it linked) - you may remember I wasn't a fan of the delay between pages on e-readers, the screen going black or the words fading out and then replaced by new ones. You were conscious you were reading something electronic, something that was processing data, something different…

E-readers also display the number of pages left – which of course vary depending on what font size you were reading with in the first place! The Sony PRS 700 displays the data as your current page number of the total page count. Amazon's Kindle does a percentage bar. To the reviewer in the LA Times, this was “data” but I don’t necessarily agree. You want to know how you are going whether it’s number of pages or percentage read.

Yes it can sometimes be discouraging when reading books like “Pillars of the Earth” – some 1,000 pages in its printed form and much more in its electronic! Luckily I was caught up in Ken Follett’s story otherwise I would have groaned at the thought of another 1,000 pages to go. However I must admit there has been the odd book where I’ve noted what page I’m up to, the number of pages in the ebook, and thought “how am I going to make it!?”. Then again that’s no different to the physical book. But I’m more prone to flip the pages of the printed book and glance across the text to see if I want to continue with it. I’m not particularly good at doing that on the e-reader because I have such concerns about losing my page. I’ve done it countless times. While it remembers where you end off each time – starting up exactly on that page when you switch the device back on - when you start going backwards and forwards through the text it starts to get really annoying if you didn't note where you started. I’ve had to search for text to find my original location - otherwise it could be hundreds of page turns to get back to where I was.

Anyway, I’m rambling.Back to the subject at hand.

Another item that is consistently mentioned with e-readers is the glare. Apparently one of the strengths of the Kindle is its non reflective screen. I don't have a Kindle (never liked the look of it myself) and I don't like the "clunkiness" of some e-readers like the ECO/Hanlin. The touch screen of my Sony is fine (was relatively unique at the time of purchase) but the glare from lights is dreadful.

In comparison to the multi-functional iPad, regardless of glare, touch-screen, weight etc all e-readers on the market have now paled in comparison. They are the beta model. They look boring, dull, and grey. I looked at the e-reader yesterday and the shine had gone. It looked like something that was going to end up in the rubbish heap.

Interesting to read Mike Shatzkin's comments on the iPad, particularly the weight of the device and the whole process of search & discoverability within the various ebook portals. iBook has a long way to go with content and with their data management. Finding what you want to read is half the battle and I can perfectly understand where Laura Dawson comes from every time she mentions metadata. Ebook vendors neeed to understand the reading experience and what a reader is looking for. Help us find what we like! I beg you. In the meantime, Mike doesn't believe the iPad won't put all other e-readers out of business. He believes it will help grow the market but "the makers of lighter and cheaper e-ink devices don’t have to leave the field just yet." Will be interesting to see how it all pans out for those readers of ebooks, their chosen device and the reading experience they prefer.